


Stocking Filler 2

by Persiflage



Series: Berena Secret Santa 2020 [2]
Category: Holby City
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Berena Secret Santa 2020, Bernie Wolfe: World's Okay-est Lesbian, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, Co-Workers to Friends to Lovers, Comfort, F/F, Implied Sexual Content, Newly established relationship, Nightmares, Serena Campbell: Bisexual Extraordinaire, Stocking Filler, fluff attack!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:48:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27910036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persiflage/pseuds/Persiflage
Summary: Canon Divergence: Bernie, in a newly established relationship with Serena, finds herself in receipt of a number of Christmas gifts.
Relationships: Serena Campbell/Bernie Wolfe
Series: Berena Secret Santa 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2027821
Comments: 14
Kudos: 58
Collections: Berena Secret Santa 2020





	Stocking Filler 2

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Corvidden](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corvidden/gifts).



> This is a sequel to [An Unexpected Christmas](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27816511) using the prompts _Dreams_ and _The perfect Christmas present_ from the Berena Secret Santa 2020 Stocking Filler prompts.
> 
> Written for corvidden for being a fabulous and supportive friend.
> 
> (PS Please note the Fluff Attack! tag, requested by littlebmam because of how fluffy this is.)

After Christmas Day there’s no talk of Bernie returning to her own flat for the rest of the Christmas and New Year break. Serena wants her to stay and although Bernie is a little terrified that they’re moving too fast, she cannot deny that she wants to stay with Serena too, to bask in the warmth of the brunette’s home and of her regard for Bernie. Marcus never wanted her like this, and even Alex didn’t, not really. After the IED, Bernie had gained the impression that Major Wolfe was just a notch on Alex’s bedpost and that if the IED hadn’t blown up their happy bubble, then Alex would soon have moved on and found someone else to bed. 

Serena doesn’t come in to work on AAU on Boxing Day, explaining that there are some things she needs to take care of and although Bernie feels an acute sense of disappointment at this news, broken over a breakfast of bowls of chopped fruit drizzled with honey and toasted spice loaf (a truly decadent breakfast that Serena tells Bernie they’d have eaten on Christmas Day if she hadn’t taken over breakfast duties from the brunette), she thinks that it might be just as well that Serena’s not in today as she might prove too distracting for Bernie to be able to concentrate properly. 

“I’ll see you later, then,” Bernie says after breakfast. She’s going to pop by her flat to pick up some more clothes, the rest of her prescription painkillers, and to ensure there’s no food in the fridge that will go off while she’s staying with Serena.

“Mmhmm.” Serena hums agreement, reeling Bernie in for a final, final kiss that leaves the blonde weak kneed and wanting. “Let me know if you get held up, won’t you?”

“Of course,” Bernie says, reluctantly tearing herself away from her new lover. She hurries down the path and drops her kitbag on the passenger seat, then sets about de-icing her windows. 

When she arrives on the ward to take over from Fletch he grins and says, “Aye, aye, someone’s gotta spring in their step. I take it Father Christmas was good to you this year, Major?”

“Mr Fletcher,” Bernie says in her most quelling tones. “Bring me up to date, please.” She heads into the consultant’s office and quells a pang of disappointment when she spots Serena’s empty chair and neatly ordered desk.

“Yes ma’am,” he says and seems to only just be restraining himself from saluting her. He talks her through the current crop of patients, hands over the patient files, then makes his way out of the office with a smile on his face.

Bernie pulls her mobile phone from the pocket of her satchel before dropping the latter item into the bottom drawer of her desk, then grins when she sees a text from Serena: _Missing you already. S x_

She quickly types a response: _Me too. B x_ , then resolutely sets her phone aside in order to turn on her computer and start working through her pile of files.

The day goes by faster than she’d anticipated when she arrived that morning, helped by the fact that she has two surgeries: an older woman who’d slipped on the ice and fallen down, breaking her left arm in the process, and a young boy who’d broken his ankle when his brand new bicycle from Santa skidded on black ice and threw him off. Both require some delicate surgical work and Bernie misses Serena’s presence on the other side of the table, especially with Mrs Tuthill whose broken arm also features a vascular compromise. Fortunately, Bernie’s read enough of Serena’s papers to be able to perform a more than adequate repair and she’s fairly confident that Mrs Tuthill’s arm will heal well, but Bernie would’ve been glad of her new lover’s expertise in the theatre.

She is glad to hand over to Raf at five o’clock, although he earns himself a ferocious scowl when he mentions that Fletch has told him that Bernie had a certain ‘pep in her step’ when she’d taken over that morning.

“My private life is just that, Mr di Lucca,” she tells him sternly. “I cannot abide gossip so please do not speculate as to what might or might not have happened.”

He retreats with a stack of patient files and a suitably chastised expression as Bernie takes her satchel from her desk drawer, then pulls on her coat. She slips her mobile into her pocket, then makes her way out to the car park. As she waits for the car to warm up she texts Serena: _Just leaving. B x_

Her phone chimes promptly: _Good to know. S x_

She grins, then pulls out of her parking space and points the car towards Serena’s home, thinking happily of the kisses and caresses they'll share this evening.

When she arrives at Serena’s a little after four thirty the brunette opens the door very promptly and barely waits for Bernie to step across the threshold before she reels her in for a lengthy kiss, the blonde’s back pressed against the door.

“Well, hello to you, too,” Bernie mutters when Serena finally releases her.

“Evening,” Serena says with a smirk and sparkling eyes.

“Not that it isn’t very nice to see you, but you couldn’t have waited for me to take off my coat and boots first?” Bernie teases.

“No.” Serena’s face is alight with amusement, her face seemingly all dimples, and Bernie pauses in the act of removing her boots to draw the other woman in for another, not quite as lengthy, kiss which makes Serena laugh when Bernie releases her.

“Something smells good,” she observes as she finishes removing her boots and pulls on her slippers instead. She gets a little frisson of joy out of the sight of them. It’s such a Serena thing to do, she thinks, buying her slippers. 

“I’m glad you think so,” the brunette says. “It’s turkey and vegetable pie. It’s all ready to go into the oven.”

“Made with some of yesterday’s leftovers?” Bernie guesses with a chuckle.

“Precisely.”

“Sounds good.”

Bernie follows Serena into the kitchen and washes her hands, then checks the time. “I take it supper isn’t going to be just yet?”

“It’s not,” agrees Serena. “Why do you ask?”

“I thought I might make some more of that spiced loaf. It can go on rising while we have supper and then it can be baked so that we can have it for breakfast.”

“And here I thought I was going to take you upstairs,” Serena says. 

She says it in a light tone, but Bernie’s under no illusions that her lover is disappointed with her plan. 

“Right. Fine.” Bernie turns on her heel and heads for the door.

“Where are you going?” asks Serena and Bernie turns to look at her in confusion.

“Upstairs.”

“I thought you were going to make bread?”

“You just said you wanted to take me upstairs.”

They stare at each other in silence for what feels like hours to Bernie but is probably not even a minute.

“Why don’t you make the bread first?” suggests Serena. “Then we can go upstairs.”

“Are you sure?” Bernie asks, feeling anxiety churn in her gut: it’s far too soon for her to be fucking up this new relationship. She’s not sure what Serena sees in her face, but she crosses the kitchen and clasps Bernie’s shoulders, then lifts her hands to her face and presses their foreheads together.

“I’m sure,” she says firmly, then kisses Bernie, pressing her back against the wall, making the blonde whimper a little. 

Serena pulls away, then smirks at the sight of Bernie’s no doubt stunned expression. She certainly feels stunned as there was an intensity to that kiss that there hasn’t been to any of their other kisses, not even the very first one.

“Um,” Bernie says dazedly.

Serena chuckles filthily. “Breathe, darling,” she says.

Bernie does just that, taking deep breaths in through her nose, then exhaling out through her mouth. 

“Okay?” Serena is holding Bernie’s shoulders again, she notices. 

“Yeah. Thank you.”

“Good.” Serena gives her shoulders a squeeze. “You looked pretty panicked before, when I suggested you make the bread before we go upstairs.”

Bernie nods. “I – um – I thought we were going to have a fight and then that would be the end of our relationship. I could probably live without us being lovers, but I would hate to lose our friendship as well.”

“Well, relax soldier. We’re not going to get into a fight over something that trivial.”

“Good.”

Bernie sets about making the spiced loaf while Serena makes them both a cup of tea and Bernie talks Serena through the two operations she’d carried out, feeling pleased as punch when Serena says that she’d have dealt with Mrs Tuthill’s vascular compromise exactly as Bernie had.

“And I’m not just saying that because we’re in a relationship,” Serena says.

Bernie turns and looks over her shoulder at her, frowning. “Well, of course not. I can’t imagine you ever compromising your integrity because of a relationship.”

Serena snorts and Bernie raises her eyebrows at her. “I suppose I should tell you the story of my ex and how much I foolishly compromised my integrity for him.”

Bernie moves to the sink to wash her hands, then steps up behind Serena as she sits at the kitchen table. “I don’t need to hear it,” she says, wrapping her arms around the brunette and kissing the top of her head. “If you want to tell me some time, then tell me. But you don’t have to, and you particularly don’t have to right now.” 

Bernie nuzzles the side of Serena’s neck, nosing at the spot behind her ear that she’s already discovered is particularly sensitive. “Right now, Campbell,” she adds, her voice gone low and husky, “I want you to take me upstairs and have your wicked way with me.”

“Finally!” Serena exclaims, twisting around on the chair and smirking at Bernie. 

“I’ll give you ‘finally’,” Bernie says with a growl and tugs her from the chair, spinning her about and kissing her lustily.

“I thought I was going to ravish you?” Serena asks when Bernie releases her mouth.

“That’s what you get for being cheeky, Campbell. You lose the initiative.”

Serena laughs, tugs herself free of Bernie’s clasp, then moves away from her. She pauses in the doorway, smirking at the blonde as she moves after her, then hurries into the hall. Bernie follows as Serena rushes upstairs laughing still.

Once they reach Serena’s room, Bernie’s arrested by the sight of a parcel wrapped in Christmas paper sitting on ‘her’ side of the bed, the side on which she’d slept the night before.

“What’s this?” she asks curiously, all teasing forgotten now.

“Well, if you open it, you’ll find out.” Serena’s smirking again as Bernie moves across to the bed and picks up the parcel, which is soft and squishy, she discovers. Serena sits on her side of the bed, then pats the space beside her, and Bernie joins her. She rests the parcel on her lap, pulls on the ribbon bow, then tugs the ribbon free and passes it to Serena to use again. Then she peels the wrapping paper open to discover a set of brushed cotton pyjamas in a mid blue colour with white stars and moons printed on the fabric.

“I noticed you only sleep in a t-shirt and boxer shorts,” Serena says, “and I thought that on colder nights you might not be warm enough.”

To Bernie’s total embarrassment, and Serena’s distress, she bursts into tears at this thoughtfulness. Serena wraps her arms around her and rocks her, rubbing a hand up and down her back in a soothing manner. And when Bernie’s tears subside (which happens quickly, to her immense relief), Serena hands her a tissue from the box on her nightstand and she mops her eyes and face dry.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Serena asks diffidently.

“I’m sorry,” Bernie says. “I’m just not used to anyone taking such care of me.” She blows her nose on a new tissue, then tosses them both into the bin. “So much for the ‘big macho army medic’.”

Serena presses a kiss to her temple, then squeezes her. “You don’t have to be macho or tough in front of me,” she says. “And I will never think any less of you for being vulnerable with me.”

“Thank you.” Bernie presses her lips to Serena’s and the pyjamas slide, forgotten, to the floor as she presses Serena down onto the bed and proceeds to show her exactly how grateful she is.

Later that evening, when the pyjamas, still folded into the wrapping paper, have been rescued and Bernie has put them on, she looks at herself in Serena’s full length wardrobe mirror, and chuckles.

“What?” asks Serena, who’s already in bed and is busy applying moisturiser to her hands.

“I just think I look like a big kid in these,” Bernie tells her, closing the wardrobe door and detouring to turn off the overhead light before sliding into bed next to Serena. “Thank you.”

“Be grateful I didn’t buy you a satin nightgown,” Serena says with a smirk.

Bernie snorts. “Yeah, I’d have looked ridiculous in that since I don’t have your figure with which to carry it off.”

“I happen to like your figure,” Serena tells her, drawing her in closer. “I like it a lot.”

“Mmm, is that so?” Bernie presses a hungry kiss to Serena’s mouth, then shifts against her so that she can slide her hand up the brunette’s thigh underneath her burgundy satin nightgown.

“It is.”

“Good.” Bernie kisses her more deeply as her hand finds the spot it’s seeking and Serena mewls into her mouth as long, clever fingers slide into her heated core.

SC-BW-SC-BW-SC

Each day Bernie comes home to Serena, feeling a frisson of pleasure at being greeted with heated kisses and a nice meal, followed by energetic sex or tender lovemaking. And each evening at bedtime there’s another gift sitting on her side of the bed. The second time, the day after Boxing Day, she observes that she hasn’t got Serena anything, but her lover reassures her that Bernie’s presence in her bed is more than enough of a gift for her to want anything else.

The next present after the pyjamas is a soft, fluffy navy terrycloth bathrobe, the sort of thing Bernie’s never owned before because it had never occurred to her to buy one. On December 28th, the gift is a long cashmere scarf in powder blue, to go with the pastel pink coat, and a hat of the same blue.

“You’re making me feel very soft,” Bernie observes that night when they’re lying spent, sated, and very satisfied, in Serena’s bed. 

“Hmm?”

Bernie suspects that Serena’s at least halfway to sleep. “Your gifts are making me feel very soft,” she says.

Serena raises an eyebrow. “Is that a problem?”

“No, not at all. For so long I’ve had to be so tough and macho, and –”

“Stoic?” suggests Serena.

“Yes, stoic. It’s a little strange to be taken care of like this, but it’s nice, too. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Serena says and draws Bernie in to snuggle together for sleep. 

On December 29th Bernie’s gift comes in an envelope, which elicits a puzzled look before she opens it to find a sheet of paper confirming an appointment with an osteopath for the new year.

“What’s this?” Bernie asks. 

“I think it’s fairly clear,” Serena says and Bernie wonders if she’s imagining how nervous the brunette sounds.

“I’ve told you, though, I’m very fussy about who puts their hands on me.”

“I know,” Serena says, her tone reassuring now. “I explained that to Jack and they said that they’ve had a few military and ex-military clients before and they know how touchy, no pun intended, military personnel can be about being touched. If you don’t get on with them then that’s fine. You won’t have to go back a second time. But I think you should give Jack a try. They come highly recommended and you do need the help. I don’t mind giving you regular massages, but in the long run you need a professionally trained osteopath.”

“Okay then,” Bernie says.

Serena raises an eyebrow, as if she’s surprised at how easily Bernie’s agreed. “Really?”

Bernie nods. “Really. You’re not wrong that I need fully trained professional assistance – no disrespect to you. I’m incredibly grateful for the fact that you’re willing to give me a massage regularly. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Serena kisses Bernie, pressing her down against the mattress and she goes willingly, grateful to have found herself with a partner who wants to take such good care of her in every way possible, including this.

On December 30th Bernie’s next gift is a pair of leather driving gloves. “They’re an incredibly good fit,” she observes. “Usually, women’s gloves are too short in the finger and men’s are too broad in the palm. However did you get them so exactly right?”

“Ah,” Serena says, and Bernie gives her a puzzled look because the brunette is blushing, which seems strange.

“‘Ah’ what?” asks Bernie.

“Well, I may have drawn around your hands while you were sleeping and um, got a friend of mine to resize a pair of men’s gloves for you. That’s why you didn’t get them sooner. She needed a few days to rework them.”

“Oh Serena.” Bernie presses her down into the bed and kisses her hungrily. “Thank you. Please thank your friend on my behalf.”

“I will,” Serena promises.

SC-BW-SC-BW-SC

December 31st starts slowly for them both as Bernie has had a nightmare during the night that had woken both of them and had left the blonde shaking in Serena’s arms. 

“You should stay here today,” Serena says as they’re drinking coffee, rather blearier eyed than usual. “Catch up on your sleep.”

Bernie shakes her head a little. “I’ll be fine with plenty of coffee inside me,” she says firmly. “I’ve managed on less in the past. I’m just sorry that I woke you up as well. Are you sure you don’t want to stay here again today? I am being paid to cover for you, after all.”

“No,” Serena says equally as firmly. “I have a meeting with Hanssen this morning.”

“Okay.”

They finish their breakfast, then make their way back upstairs to get dressed and Bernie can’t help smiling to herself.

“What’s amusing you, Major?” Serena asks, glancing over at her and catching the smile.

“I was just thinking that I’m pretty much covered in your love from neck to toe.” She’s wearing the pyjamas, slippers, and bathrobe that Serena’s given her over the last few days. “It’s a nice feeling.”

“I had no idea you were such a romantic,” Serena says, sounding delighted. 

“I didn’t realise that I am,” Bernie tells her as they begin to strip out of their nightwear in order to dress for the day ahead.

“You definitely are,” Serena says, stepping in close to plant a soft, brief kiss against Bernie’s lips. “I like it. I like you being romantic in the same way that I like you being soft and vulnerable. And I think it suits you.”

“Okay.”

They dress briskly, Serena in her usual tailored trousers, cami top and brightly coloured silk blouse, Bernie in her usual skinny jeans, vest top, long sleeved shirt, and a thick sweater as she’s really begun to feel the cold over the last few days (which makes her doubly grateful for Serena’s thoughtful warm gifts.

Bernie drives them to the hospital, and they leave early because there’s been a small amount of snow overnight and Serena had warned her that the roads would be dangerous, less from the snow than from drivers who have apparently forgotten how to drive just because there’s been a couple of inches of snow.

They grab a coffee apiece in Pulses, then head straight to the consultant’s office and settle in to make a start on the paperwork. They’ve not been in long before the first patient arrives needing surgery as a consequence of the weather, and Bernie finds herself dealing with a steady stream of surgeries throughout the day. She has no recollection of eating any lunch, though Serena assures her that she’d had a ham salad sandwich and a mince pie around two o’clock. 

She’s freshly out of her final, she hopes, surgery of the day when Henrik Hanssen appears, looming up out of nowhere. She doesn’t startle though, just raises her eyebrows at him as she waits for him to speak.

“Ms Wolfe, might I have a word?”

 _Well, that doesn’t sound at all ominous_ , she thinks, noting that Serena’s not in the office as she and Hanssen enter.

“What can I do for you, Mr Hanssen?”

“I have just had confirmation that Mr Levy will be returning to work on January 2nd.”

“Meaning my services are no longer required,” Bernie says, feeling a stab of sorrow at the idea of no longer working with Serena Campbell. She tries not to think about what it will mean for her fledgling personal relationship with Serena.

“Meaning that your services are no longer required on Keller,” Hanssen corrects her.

Bernie gives him a somewhat baffled look, then feels a sudden, wild stab of hope in her chest, which she does her best to suppress. “Well, isn’t that the same thing?” she asks. “After all, you did employ me to cover for Sacha’s absence.”

“It need not be the same thing,” Hanssen says. “You’ve done a truly excellent job of managing AAU over the festive period, so how would you like to become co-lead of AAU?”

“Co-lead?” Bernie repeats, somewhat dazed and ecstatic. Then reality makes itself known. “What does Ms Campbell say about this?”

“And if she doesn’t like it?”

“Then I’m not interested,” Bernie says firmly. “AAU has been Serena’s ward for many years, and I know how hard she’s worked to make it into the ward it is today and her team into the family it is now. I refuse to mess with that if she’s not onboard, too.”

Hanssen gives her a vague impression of a smile. “Admirable loyalty, Ms Wolfe,” he says. “As it happens, this is Ms Campbell’s idea.”

“Then yes,” Bernie says immediately, her lips twitching into a half smile as she realises this must be Serena’s final, most perfect Christmas gift to her.

“Good. It was Ms Campbell’s suggestion that if you agreed to the offer of becoming her co-lead that you start putting together a proposal for a proper trauma unit to be part of AAU. She thinks the ward, and indeed the hospital as a whole, would benefit significantly from a properly equipped trauma unit, led by your good self.”

“That sounds like a dream come true,” Bernie observes, somewhat disbelievingly.

Hanssen smiles properly then, a brief, fleeting lift of the corners of his mouth. “I hope you still think so when you’re in the middle of putting the proposal together, Ms Wolfe.”

Bernie chuckles. “Happy New Year, Mr Hanssen.”

He holds out his hand and she shakes it. “Happy New Year, Ms Wolfe.” He heads back out of the office and Bernie’s still grinning when Serena slips through the door.

“Someone looks very cat got the cream,” she observes primly.

“If we weren’t at work,” Bernie says.

“Well, we’re about not to be,” Serena says with a pointed look at the clock.

“Then let’s get home and I’ll thank you properly for the most perfect Christmas present you’ve given me so far this festive season.”

“Oh?” Serena’s tone is arch, now.

Bernie rolls her eyes. “My dream job? Running AAU with you and setting up a trauma unit here?” 

“Ah. Henrik came to tell you the news.”

“He did. Thank you, Serena. Thank you very much.” She gets to her feet and draws Serena close, hands softly clasping her wrists.

Serena shrugs. “I’d be a fool not to keep you on and when Henrik told me last week, just after Christmas, that it seemed likely Sacha Levy would be back in the New Year, I told him so. Fortunately, Henrik agreed wholeheartedly.”

Bernie drops the blind on the small window beside her, then kisses Serena very thoroughly, leaving the brunette breathless.

“That’s a down payment,” she tells her. “Now let’s get back to yours to celebrate properly.”

“Let’s.” Serena agrees.


End file.
